Standing coated bullets up for baking

[gnappi]

I received these silicone grommets and am installing them in a silicone baking sheet for .308's (with GC) and .223's. To cut the baking sheets I tried using a wax cutter for .50 cal maxi balls but it proved too flimsy. So I have to wait till a leather punch arrives to punch out all of the .050" holes to mount the 1/4" thick grommets in.

271567

[farmerjim]

For your 223's use these:

PratiPad Plus 4-in-1 Multipurpose Silicone Pot Holders, Trivets, Jar Openers, Spoon Rests - Extra Thick Protection - Set of 2 - Green Grey

Cast 223's stand up perfect in the 1/4 in web holes.

I got mine from amazon, but most department stores should have a brand of these.

[bandsmoyer]

How do you guys stand the bullets up without wiping the powder off. I know, stupid question, but i'm new to powder coating.

[charlie b]

I do wipe the powder off the bottoms. Not sure if it does any good, but, it makes me feel better :)

I don't shoot anything smaller than .308 and I have a small oven so I just stand them up on the tray. 99% of the time I get them in the oven without tipping any over :) And most of my .308's are long 210gn bullets.

[gnappi]

There's no stupid questions, that is unless you ask the same thing three times three different ways :-)

Anyway, I do not wipe the bottoms off and they cure just fine.

[memtb]

Wasn’t there some conversation some time back, about using silicon ice cube trays to place your bullets in for the baking process? If anyone is using or has tried that method, you’re story please ....good, bad, or indifferent! memtb

[Lloyd Smale]

dump them on some parchment paper and bake them. Standing them up is just wasted work. Unless pretty is what your looking for. Me? id rather be shooting then spending time standing up bullets so there a bit prettier. But to each there own.

[fredj338]

How do you guys stand the bullets up without wiping the powder off. I know, stupid question, but i'm new to powder coating.

For rifles I use wire mesh, bullets nose down. For handgun I use a jig, drop the bullets in using large tweezers, then invert the entire block of 150 into a tray.

[Wild Bill 7]

I stand my rifle boolits up with a pair of long forceps as well as pistol boolits. Besides I like to have them looking good. It does take more time but I allow myself time for that so it doesn’t matter to me.

[AlHunt]

I just dump them onto a wire basket, bake them in a pile, then slam them into a cardboard box to break them up.

Standing bullets up with tweezers in more tedium than I could stand.

[6622729]

I stand my boolits up and leave the powder in place. The Lee 230grain I'm using in 300AAC is a boat tail so I need the protection at the base. I use two coats of Eastwood powder. Very satisfied with the MOA accuracy.

271630

[Lloyd Smale]

I just dump them onto a wire basket, bake them in a pile, then slam them into a cardboard box to break them up.

Standing bullets up with tweezers in more tedium than I could stand.

yup and the few that stick together when broken apart leave a very small uncoated spot that hurts nothing. I like you prefer spending my time shooting not standing up little tiny bullets so they look pretty.

[AlHunt]

Maybe some of the difference in approach is rifle vs pistol bullets. I appreciate a well crafted bullet as much as anyone and if I were making a hundred or so for precision shooting, I might take the time to stand each one. More than that ... wire basket it is.

[charlie b]

To be fair I guess I need to do a side by side accuracy test. Next batch I will do some parallel bullets, some stood up, some laying down, and test the accuracy of each batch at 300yd.

[OS OK]

The silicone ice cube tray comes in, I think 3 size grids over on Amazon or a Bed-n-Bath store...


https://i.imgur.com/GL7t4ra.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/gRkvPuV.jpg?1

There are pot pads too with a grid system...

https://i.imgur.com/DSGSoRu.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uXPIthB.jpg

Just don't try using a grid that they fit snugly into or the PC will come out looking like the grid...hahaaa...big mistake.

https://i.imgur.com/hJguVJZ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uO9APIS.jpg

[johnho]

My first venture into coating, a few months ago, I patiently stood all the pistol bullets on end and baked. After doing that a few times I decided to just dump them in the pan with non stick Al foil, separated them a bit and baked. Any that stuck together were easy to break apart. Waste of time standing them up for what I do with them.

[tdoor4570]

I stand all of mine up, gives me something to do while the first batch is cooking

[AndyC]

Wasn’t there some conversation some time back, about using silicon ice cube trays to place your bullets in for the baking process? If anyone is using or has tried that method, you’re story please ....good, bad, or indifferent! memtb
Works just great for me for my .300 Blk heavies:

https://i.imgur.com/KtLKdvs.jpg

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QZ34SMV/ - size 3/8" square.

[Conditor22]

Andy, I'd recommend using the sheet pan that came with the oven instead of a flimsy wire basket when standing up boolits.

I've had a basket flex and knock over all my heavies :(

[res45]

I stand all my bullet up handgun or rifle and have since day one, never had the intentions of doing it any other way and I like the results I get. Nice flat bases are a plus.

https://i.imgur.com/dHeKEw1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bDEHeV0.jpg

[daloper]

I stand mine up using a small pair of spring loaded electronics needle nose pliers. Pick them up, tap the pliers on the container to knock off the excess and stand them up.

[memtb]

Works just great for me for my .300 Blk heavies:

https://i.imgur.com/KtLKdvs.jpg

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QZ34SMV/ - size 3/8" square.

Andy, I had just bought a silicon ice cube tray (1/2” round) for my .45 cal boolits. However, my tray appears to be deeper than your tray. 300 grainers only extend about 1/3 bullet above the edge of tray. So a question.....Do you modify your technique, as it appears that the tray may be somewhat insulating the bullets? Today, I waited for an observed powder melt, then added 10 minutes to my cook time. At best, I’ll call them fair.....nothing as pretty as those shown by most on the forum. Adult supervision needed! memtb

[AndyC]

Yes, I had the same concern as you and also added 10 minutes - but it's still early days for me to find which powder color coats the cleanest. I find my Eastwood Blue is kinda thick, so I'll be experimenting with that next.

[RogerDat]

I stand up most that are large enough on non-stick foil. For smaller stuff like .223 or especially tall bullets like a 220 grain 303 bullet I lay down in a modified bread cooling rack.

Bread cooling rack is wire rack fairly small wire, with feet (to allow air to flow under the rack) I remove one set of feet so the rack is at an angle toward the front when set on the baking tray. The wire is then covered with non-stick foil and gently pushed down between the wires to form a shallow trough This keeps the bullets from rolling down and the contact is all along the side of bullet in a narrow band. I find if I am gentle there is generally no discernable blemish where the bullet rests on the foil.

The angled trough prevents the bullets from moving around while being easy to access since the cut off legs leave it angled toward the front.

I place the bullets on tray or in the trough using a pair of fine needle nose pliers that are spring loaded to open. Every so often I will "scuff" the PC a bit with the tips if the bullet slips or twists a bit when being gripped but over all it is too little to matter or if the bullet actually slips too much I just toss it back in the plastic bowl for more shaking.

I like nice looking but really I figure loading bolt guns or revolvers, or even lever rifles the total number of bullets used doesn't take that long, no really large time savings possible. For the auto loaders... well if I'm making 300 and a few have a slight blemish? Not a big deal as long as it doesn't impact performance.

I use a small or larger toaster oven. Small oven holds maybe 60 bullets upright or 30 or 40 on their sides in the tilted bread rack. Larger oven can do twice that. I load the tray or rack on the rack for the oven just pulled out to provide access. All I have to do is slide oven rack in with enough care to not tip things over. Seldom have any fall, as in can do several trays of 60 with none falling.

One tip, leave enough room between bullets to reduce chance of domino effect if one falls. No reason to have as single falling bullet knock over others. Also easier to place them if there is a little room.

PC is easy, I putter in garage while they bake. Little stretches of 15 minutes to straighten or adjust something helps the time pass and is productive. I know some need or want larger & faster but for me this works. Mostly I just wanted to share the use of the bread rack. Works especially well for PC of .224 bullets. I should mention these are 70 grain so probably a bit longer than the typical 55 grain version.

[memtb]

I got an old “retired” electric stove and put in my pole barn for my powder coating. If I ever get this figured out, I can easily do 600 bullets at a time. With another oven rack 900 would be easy enough. No more than I shoot, I could wait for near perfect atmospheric (<20% humidity) conditions to do my baking.....and probably only cook once per year! But......we ain’t there yet! memtb

[Slugster]

Watching this thread with interest. I still use my Lyman 450 squeeze and squirt sizer/lubricator and it is tough to get me to change from something that has always worked, to something that might work for me. One of my main concerns is, will the coating on boolits that are touching when cured stick together and when broke apart leave bare patches or lumps on the boolits. Would this condition cause boolits to spin on an eccentric axis? My question would be 'does non uniform coating cause inaccuracy?

[memtb]

Slugster, I have no personal experience, as I’m coating large dia. bullets and were standing individually prior to experimenting with the silicon ice cube trays. But, from everything that I have read, them contacting each other during the cook process leaves minimal blemishes. Supposedly, at handgun velocities a non-issue. If they were being pushed fast, perhaps complete and even coating may become more important!

I believe that most folks size the bullets “after” coating, so lumps are non-existent. You will only have a small area without coating! memtb

[markmars]

How does standing them up versus just baking effect accuracy?
I would think on pistol bullets it would have a minimum effect.
The effect on rifle bullets would increase with distances over 50-100 yards.
Is this correct?

[Conditor22]

For many powders, the coated boolits will have marks left on them if they touch each other or the wire basket when baking (this is exacerbated when people leave too much powder on the boolit).

Standing up boolits on wire baskets can leave marks on the base with some PC's

[prs]

How do you guys stand the bullets up without wiping the powder off. I know, stupid question, but i'm new to powder coating.

To avoid wiping powder pait from the sides of boolits, wear nitrile gloves and rub the fingers with some powder.

prs

[Lloyd Smale]

For many powders, the coated boolits will have marks left on them if they touch each other or the wire basket when baking (this is exacerbated when people leave too much powder on the boolit).

Standing up boolits on wire baskets can leave marks on the base with some PC's

never seen where the small bare spots from breaking them apart hurt a thing.

[stanford]

I stand all my bullet up handgun or rifle and have since day one, never had the intentions of doing it any other way and I like the results I get. Nice flat bases are a plus.

https://i.imgur.com/dHeKEw1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bDEHeV0.jpg


res45, what is your process when powder coating?

Going on with this thread I see some folks are using silicon ice cube trays, I thought that those things break down when blasted with 400 deg of heat.

This is how I was doing some coating the other day. I got a bit tired of using the pc gun because powder just goes all over the place. I wanted to try dry tumbling and see what happened. My first batch didn't come out too good so I baked it again. I think I baked it about three times because I wasn't getting good coverage with the powder on the lead.

Since that didn't work too good for me I decided to heat up the lead and shake them in a container, with the lead hot the powder will stick a lot better. Well I ended up with a whole bunch of lead stuck together and I couldn't break them apart. I had to put the lead with the stuck on powder back into the melting pot. I haven't done any coating since then so I am trying to learn some of the secrets you guys are using.

I did try the non stick foil but my boolits still stuck to the foil, I tried the cookie paper and it stuck too. Also the base of the boolits always look really bad.

I really need a new process, how about you guys giving me some guidance into your secrets.


Thanks

[charlie b]

You have a humidity thing working against you in east TX, so shake and bake needs a bit of care to get the static electricity that makes the process work. No advice since I am in a very dry climate and the process works well for me. Make sure you are using a powder that will stick with the shake and bake method. All powders are not equal in this regard. See Smoke's stuff or use one of the known good ones, like Eastwood's Ford Light Blue. Some little things. Make sure the bullets are clean of all oils. I usually put mine through a rinse in acetone to get all the oils off. Dry completely. Then shake. When casting run the process a bit on the warm side to get a 'soft' frosty look to the bullets. That makes the surface a little rougher and it will hold the powder better. But, not too hot :)

When I take the bullets out of the tub I use some tweezers with heat shrink tubing over the tips (not the shiny stuff). I take the bullets out of the tub and wipe off the base and then put the bullets on the tray. If you still get a lot of build up at the base then there is too much powder on the bullets. In that case tap them against the side of the tub to shake off a bit of powder before putting them on the tray.

I have used non-stick Al foil, but, the silicone baking sheets work better. I cut one to fit the tray for my oven. Over time the PC will build up on the sheet so I toss it and get a new one. And, yes, the bullets will sometimes still stick to the baking sheet. I just dump the whole thing on a large towel and shake until the bullets fall off.

Follow the powder mfg directions for baking times. Eastwood's directions are for 450F until the coating fully flows (shiny all over) and then 400F for 20min. Works well for me in a cheap toaster oven (temps checked with two different thermometers).

[AlHunt]

You have a humidity thing working against you in east TX, so shake and bake needs a bit of care to get the static electricity that makes the process work. No advice since I am in a very dry climate and the process works well for me. Make sure you are using a powder that will stick with the shake and bake method. All powders are not equal in this regard. See Smoke's stuff or use one of the known good ones, like Eastwood's Ford Light Blue. Some little things. Make sure the bullets are clean of all oils. I usually put mine through a rinse in acetone to get all the oils off. Dry completely. Then shake. When casting run the process a bit on the warm side to get a 'soft' frosty look to the bullets. That makes the surface a little rougher and it will hold the powder better. But, not too hot :)

When I take the bullets out of the tub I use some tweezers with heat shrink tubing over the tips (not the shiny stuff). I take the bullets out of the tub and wipe off the base and then put the bullets on the tray. If you still get a lot of build up at the base then there is too much powder on the bullets. In that case tap them against the side of the tub to shake off a bit of powder before putting them on the tray.

I have used non-stick Al foil, but, the silicone baking sheets work better. I cut one to fit the tray for my oven. Over time the PC will build up on the sheet so I toss it and get a new one. And, yes, the bullets will sometimes still stick to the baking sheet. I just dump the whole thing on a large towel and shake until the bullets fall off.

Follow the powder mfg directions for baking times. Eastwood's directions are for 450F until the coating fully flows (shiny all over) and then 400F for 20min. Works well for me in a cheap toaster oven (temps checked with two different thermometers).

Some of you guys are spending a lot of time standing bullets with tweezers. If it works for you, you'll get no grief from me. I've gone to the "cook them in a big pile, laying all over each other" method. I learned that technique here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRVXic3-ztE

When they come out of the oven, I slam the tray upside down into a waiting cardboard box and beat it around to be sure most of the bullets break up.

When I startred out I stood everyone up and I'd probably do that if I wanted a couple hundred at a time for some kind of precision shooting. But pistol bullets for tin cans and steel plates don't require that level of care.

[Lloyd Smale]

res45, what is your process when powder coating?

Going on with this thread I see some folks are using silicon ice cube trays, I thought that those things break down when blasted with 400 deg of heat.

This is how I was doing some coating the other day. I got a bit tired of using the pc gun because powder just goes all over the place. I wanted to try dry tumbling and see what happened. My first batch didn't come out too good so I baked it again. I think I baked it about three times because I wasn't getting good coverage with the powder on the lead.

Since that didn't work too good for me I decided to heat up the lead and shake them in a container, with the lead hot the powder will stick a lot better. Well I ended up with a whole bunch of lead stuck together and I couldn't break them apart. I had to put the lead with the stuck on powder back into the melting pot. I haven't done any coating since then so I am trying to learn some of the secrets you guys are using.

I did try the non stick foil but my boolits still stuck to the foil, I tried the cookie paper and it stuck too. Also the base of the boolits always look really bad.

I really need a new process, how about you guys giving me some guidance into your secrets.


Thanks

i had simular luck with the non stick foil. but parchment paper worked well for me.

[res45]

Not sure why anyone is having problems with their bullets sticking to non-stick foil or Parchment paper. Both brands I use or made by Reynolds and I can get multiple uses out of each piece before it has to be replaced, I've never used any other brands so my experience is limited with other brands. I use an oven thomometer that has a glass bulb not the dial type to make sure my oven was set to 400 degrees, mine was off by about 30 degrees when it reached peak temperature but holds steady once set.

Parchment paper has a limit temperature of 425 degrees before the coating starts to burn off, Non stick foil has two sides one dull side coat the sinny side is not, powder coat will stick to the no coated side.

[charlie b]

Some of you guys are spending a lot of time standing bullets with tweezers. If it works for you, you'll get no grief from me. I've gone to the "cook them in a big pile, laying all over each other" method. I learned that technique here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRVXic3-ztE

When they come out of the oven, I slam the tray upside down into a waiting cardboard box and beat it around to be sure most of the bullets break up.

When I startred out I stood everyone up and I'd probably do that if I wanted a couple hundred at a time for some kind of precision shooting. But pistol bullets for tin cans and steel plates don't require that level of care.

I would not stand up pistol bullets either. 99% of my shooting is rifle, at 200-600yd. MOA groups are common.

[AlHunt]

I would not stand up pistol bullets either. 99% of my shooting is rifle, at 200-600yd. MOA groups are common.

A bit of a tangent, have you found a difference in accuracy between PC and conventionally lubed and sized?

[charlie b]

I have not done back to back testing (but I will soon).

When I started casting for my .308 I got the Lee 180gn mold. Cast and conventional lube (pan lube, Ben's Red). Hundreds of rounds of ladder testing and shooting for groups. Then I started powder coating. Hundreds of rounds using same loads resulted in about the same group sizes. That's why I went to PC.

Now I have fired two other bullet shapes through the same rifle, powder coated, and have quite a history of groups and loads. During the next month or two I will be pan lubing some of the current bullets and shooting pan lube and PC with same loads and comparing accuracy and velocities.

[gnappi]

I'd love to use silicone ice trays, but as yet I have not seen one with holes large enough for .40's and .45's (say .5" square or round) that hold more than 24 bullets or so.

[markmars]

I have not done back to back testing (but I will soon).

When I started casting for my .308 I got the Lee 180gn mold. Cast and conventional lube (pan lube, Ben's Red). Hundreds of rounds of ladder testing and shooting for groups. Then I started powder coating. Hundreds of rounds using same loads resulted in about the same group sizes. That's why I went to PC.

Now I have fired two other bullet shapes through the same rifle, powder coated, and have quite a history of groups and loads. During the next month or two I will be pan lubing some of the current bullets and shooting pan lube and PC with same loads and comparing accuracy and velocities.

Looking forward to seeing your data I'd like to see how accurate the loads can be at distances.

[Conditor22]

Bent a wire grid, use 45 acp brass as spacers/support for height, wired the grid tightly to a pan (so the grid doesn't shift) with a non-stick bbq mat on it. The small pile of PC (in the bottom left) is where I tap the boolit base to remove excess PC (I already ran thises through my DIY sifter to remove excess PC and the Polly pellets which are interchangeable with airsoft BB's)


https://i.imgur.com/vdmYHHH.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kr9GKR5.jpg

2 $1 bowls from dollar tree
https://i.imgur.com/al5lWvz.jpg

layout grid
https://i.imgur.com/a8BPAQO.jpg

9/32 drill bit
https://i.imgur.com/4a92FMq.jpg

drill holes and sand smooth
https://i.imgur.com/XbsxAq3.jpg

stack the containers and sift bb's (and PC)
https://i.imgur.com/9WEHJ5K.jpg

BB's (and PC) cought in the second container
https://i.imgur.com/8sXzuvq.jpg

[memtb]

I'd love to use silicone ice trays, but as yet I have not seen one with holes large enough for .40's and .45's (say .5" square or round) that hold more than 24 bullets or so.

gnappi, this is what I purchased from Amazon. With this information, you could go to Amazon and have a “look see”! Good Luck! memtb


https://i.imgur.com/IY4lvfdl.jpg

[charlie b]

Looking forward to seeing your data I'd like to see how accurate the loads can be at distances.

My testing will be at 200yd, like all my shooting for groups. The PC bullets are consistently 1.5MOA for 10 round groups at 200yd. I have found a few loads that will go to MOA on a regular basis (but not all the time) out to 300yd. My earlier shooting with lubed Lee bullets shows the same level of accuracy.

I just want to 'test' my current favorite bullet, the Accurate 31-210E (Eagan copy) with lube instead of PC.

I also want to test the difference between bullets that are baked standing vs laying on their side.

Once the range opens back up again I can get going on some of this.

[gnappi]

gnappi, this is what I purchased from Amazon. With this information, you could go to Amazon and have a “look see”! Good Luck! memtb




Thanks, I just got four of those trays this morning. The .45' fit nice but I stuffed some silicone washers in to bring the bullet higher.

[memtb]

Thanks, I just got four of those trays this morning. The .45' fit nice but I stuffed some silicone washers in to bring the bullet higher.


Silicon washers.......darn good idea! OK, now my question.....where do I get silicon washers? :-P memtb

[TribunusSanGeorgii]

2 $1 bowls from dollar tree
https://i.imgur.com/al5lWvz.jpg

layout grid
https://i.imgur.com/a8BPAQO.jpg

9/32 drill bit
https://i.imgur.com/4a92FMq.jpg

drill holes and sand smooth
https://i.imgur.com/XbsxAq3.jpg

stack the containers and sift bb's (and PC)
https://i.imgur.com/9WEHJ5K.jpg

BB's (and PC) cought in the second container
https://i.imgur.com/8sXzuvq.jpg

Love the sifter idea, I'm going to steal that. :bigsmyl2:

[Conditor22]

that's what they're posted here for. on CB everyone can learn from everyone else.